Blair William & Co. IL Purchases 5,965 Shares of Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX)

Blair William & Co. IL boosted its holdings in Mplx Lp (NYSE:MPLX - Free Report) by 47.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 18,520 shares of the pipeline company's stock after buying an additional 5,965 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL's holdings in Mplx were worth $886,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Mplx in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Mplx by 56.3% during the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,135 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 409 shares during the period. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR acquired a new position in Mplx in the fourth quarter valued at $56,000. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Mplx during the fourth quarter valued at $98,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in Mplx by 25.1% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,576 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $134,000 after acquiring an additional 517 shares during the period. 24.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mplx Stock Performance

MPLX traded down $3.64 on Friday, hitting $48.53. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,052,575 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,792,991. Mplx Lp has a 12 month low of $39.56 and a 12 month high of $54.87. The firm has a market cap of $49.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $53.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.16.

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Mplx (NYSE:MPLX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The pipeline company reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.07 billion. Mplx had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 36.18%. The company's revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.10 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Mplx Lp will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Mplx Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.9565 per share. This represents a $3.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.88%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. Mplx's payout ratio is 90.74%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Shawn M. Lyon acquired 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $52.75 per share, with a total value of $211,000.00. Following the acquisition, the vice president now owns 25,299 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,334,522.25. The trade was a 18.78 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Mplx from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Mplx from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Barclays increased their price target on Mplx from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. StockNews.com lowered Mplx from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Sunday, March 2nd. Finally, Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Mplx from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $54.00.

Mplx Profile

MPLX LP engages in the operation of midstream energy infrastructure and logistics assets, and distribution fuels services. It operates through the Logistics and Storage (L&S) and Gathering and Processing (G&P) segments. The Logistics and Storage segment transports, stores, distributes, and markets crude oil, asphalt, refined petroleum products, and water.